WorldView-3

WorldView-3
Mission typeEarth observation
OperatorDigitalGlobe
COSPAR ID2014-048A Edit this at Wikidata
SATCAT no.40115
Websitehttp://worldview3.digitalglobe.com
Mission durationPlanned: 7.25 years
Elapsed: 10 years, 4 months, 14 days
Spacecraft properties
BusBCP-5000[1]
ManufacturerBall Aerospace
Launch mass2,800 kg (6,200 lb)
Power3100 watts
Start of mission
Launch date13 August 2014, 18:30:30 (2014-08-13UTC18:30:30) UTC[2]
RocketAtlas V 401, AV-047[2]
Launch siteVandenberg SLC-3E[2]
ContractorLockheed Martin / United Launch Alliance
Orbital parameters
Reference systemGeocentric
RegimeSun-synchronous
Perigee altitude619 kilometers (385 mi)[3]
Apogee altitude622 kilometers (386 mi)[3]
Inclination97.97 degrees[3]
Period96.98 minutes[3]
Epoch25 January 2015, 05:15:06 UTC[3]
DigitalGlobe fleet

WorldView-3 (WV 3) is a commercial Earth observation satellite owned by DigitalGlobe. It was launched on 13 August 2014 to become DigitalGlobe's sixth satellite in orbit, joining Ikonos which was launched in 1999, QuickBird in 2001, WorldView-1 in 2007, GeoEye-1 in 2008, and WorldView-2 in 2009. WorldView-3 provides commercially available panchromatic imagery of 0.31 m (12 in) resolution, eight-band multispectral imagery with 1.24 m (4 ft 1 in) resolution, shortwave infrared imagery at 3.7 m (12 ft 2 in) resolution, and CAVIS (Clouds, Aerosols, Vapors, Ice, and Snow) data at 30 m (98 ft) resolution.[4]

Launch

WorldView-3 was launched on 13 August 2014 from Vandenberg Air Force Base on an Atlas V flying in the 401 configuration. The launch vehicle was provided by United Launch Alliance and launch services were administered by Lockheed Martin.

Notable uses

Satellite images from WorldView-3 were used in 2015 by an international team of archaeologists to discover what they then believed to be a Viking settlement on Point Rosee, Newfoundland.[5]

From 2020, Scientists are using WorldView-3 to count and detect wildlife species, including African elephants. They used satellite imagery that required no ground presence to monitor the elephants. The team created a training dataset of 1,000 elephants and fed it to the Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) and compared the results to human performance.[6]

On 7 October 2022 the satellite took an on orbit image of Landsat 8.[7]

See also

References

  1. ^ "WorldView 2, 3 (WV 2, 3)". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
  2. ^ a b c McDowell, Jonathan. "Launch Log". Jonathan's Space Page. Retrieved 6 July 2014.
  3. ^ a b c d e "WORLDVIEW-3 (WV-3) Satellite details 2014-048A NORAD 40115". N2YO. 25 January 2015. Retrieved 25 January 2015.
  4. ^ "WorldView-3 (WV-3)". eoPortal. European Space Agency. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
  5. ^ Blumenthal, Ralph (March 31, 2016). "View From Space Hints at a New Viking Site in North America". The New York Times.
  6. ^ "Explained: How scientists are counting elephants from space". www.msn.com. Archived from the original on January 30, 2021. Retrieved 2021-01-23.
  7. ^ Parken, Oliver; Rogoway, Tyler (6 April 2023). "Check Out These Images Of A Satellite In Orbit Taken By Another Satellite". The Drive. Retrieved 8 April 2023. 


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